Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probation officers were employed in the probation delivery units in the areas covering Greater London in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.

The number of probation officers in post based in London Probation Service are given in the table below. Figures broken down by each PDU can be found in the accompanying excel file.

Table 1: Band 4 Probation Officers in post in London Probation Service¹, as at 30 September 2020-2023

Notes

1. On 1 June 2014, the National Probation Service, which is responsible for high-risk offenders in the community, was created and staff in the Probation Trusts joined HMPPS as civil servants. In late June 2021, more than 7,000 staff from private sector Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) came together with probation staff already in the public sector in the new Probation Service.

From April 2021, the Probation Service underwent a reorganisation, with staff moving into new Probation Delivery Units (PDUs). Therefore, prior to this date, staff were based in LDUs (Local Delivery Units). During the reorganisation, there was a split of some staff who had moved into the new PDUs and some staff who were still assigned to the old LDUs on the reporting system. A small number of staff remained on cost centres related to the old structure after the move